Dear Jackie: there is a very extensive list of climbing jargon. Chimney is just one word I have seen for a narrow vertical passageway. Just search for "abseil" and see how many sites there are! "Seil" is German for rope, and "abseil" just means to go down a rope. As Stales' very informative post indicates, there are a number of different kinds of rope, and different kinds of devices to control rate of descent. Not for me.